Countering Violent Extremism initiatives rest on the core assumption that it is possible to detect and stop violent extremists before they carry out attacks, through theories of radicalization which identify behaviors that are thought to be “indicators” or “risk factors.” This logic is the driving force behind the National Counterterrorism Center’s annual handbook for law enforcement agencies, which provides guidance for spotting these indicators - from legitimate calls to violence, to more troubling grey areas, such as “expressing frustration with employment situation.”

FBI officials fretted over critical press coverage of their interactive website and online game on violent extremism aimed at high school students and attempted to assuage concerns raised by civil liberties and Muslim organizations, according to documents released through a FOIA request.

FOIA requests filed last year with various federal agencies for “guidelines and policies” for the use of confidential informants returned only one completed response and several rejection, making significant public accountability regarding the practice all but impossible.

Nebraska Emergency Management Agency is the latest, and possibly last, recipient of an Obama-era counterterrorism grant, which awarded the state $300 thousand towards “countering violent extremism in rural and small to mid-sized communities.” NEMA’s proposal, released through a public records request, shows the agency aims to accomplish this by relying on the same flawed, problematic psychology of its predecessors.

In the last days of Obama’s presidency, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill won a grant worth $866,687 under the Department of Homeland Security’s Countering Violent Extremism initiative to produce counter-jihadist propaganda. According to the proposal, the University will invest the money in hiring 36 undergraduate students with a background in “study of jihadist messaging strategies, video game design, and media production.”

Records show Denver Police sought a $480 thousand grant from Homeland Security to develop a counterterror program targeting communities it identifies as “at-risk” of violent extremism, which include Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ groups, and refugees.

Despite the larger number of terror attacks committed by right-wing groups than Islamist extremists, the former are identified as a “persistent but largely limited threat” in a 2015 presentation by Homeland Security.

President-elect Donald Trump’s calls for a database and “extreme vetting” of Muslims has understandably alarmed civil rights and Muslim organizations - but left unsaid in much of the discussion of Trump’s proposed policies toward Muslims, however, is any recognition of just how much these policies will depend on programs already established by the Obama administration.

Since 2013, the Montgomery County Model (MCM) has been hailed as the gold standard for community-based Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programs across the country. Despite these accolades, there is little indication that MCM has been able to resolve the concerns raised by Muslim and civil rights groups about these counterterrorism programs - in fact, MCM seems to have proceeded simply by ignoring such concerns, helped by the secrecy with which the program operates.

An Intelligence Assessment of terrorist plots against the United States and U.S. interests between 2001 and 2010 concluded that “a broadening U.S. military presence overseas and outreach by Islamist ideologues” was behind an 11 percent increase in plotted attacks since 2006. And yet, by focusing on Muslim communities, Obama’s counterterrorism program sidesteps questions about US policies which continually produce terrorists.